(upbeat music) - Hello, neighbors.

Welcome to "Look for the Helpers: Portraits in Community Service."

I'm your host, Cynthia Tyler.

For as long as people have lived together, there have been those who've been inspired to give freely of themselves in order to make people's lives better.

Volunteers have provided the creation and foundation for so many nonprofit organizations and groups, truly becoming the beating hearts of the community through their tireless and selfless efforts.

Today, we take time to honor and learn about two of our many local volunteers.

Joe Austin is well known to those in Lowville as the Lowville Fire Department's volunteer chief.

This community-focused organization rose to the occasion during the floods in Lowville last summer, helping residents and businesses battle flood waters.

Kathleen Hannon was instrumental in getting the Adams Community Playground Project off the ground.

She's also an avid volunteer with hospice and New Life Church.

Please join me as we celebrate our local volunteers.

(upbeat music) I'm here with Joe Austin, fire chief of the Lowville Fire Department.

Thank you so much for being with us, Joe.

- Thank you for having me.

- All right.

So how long have you been fire chief of the department?

- I'm currently on my sixth year as the fire chief.

I was an assistant chief for three years before that.

- Mm-hm.

Okay.

So how did you get involved in firefighting?

- Depends on who you ask.

- Hmm.

- So if you ask my mom, she's gonna say that I've wanted to be a firefighter ever since I was a little boy.

I always used to play with firetrucks and always used to walk around with fire hats and all that.

I do remember that.

I don't remember necessarily having the need to be a firefighter.

So I went on my life as normal, and then I ended up back in my hometown, going to JCC at college, living at home with my parents and my dad, who was a member of the fire department, one day came up to me and said, "Hey, do you wanna join?"

I said, "Sure, why not?"

And the rest is history.

- Well, obviously, family history is very important, so your father is, in your family, have they inspired you to volunteer?

Was that something you were always taught?

- So, yeah, I mean that is definitely, I do, it does run in the family.

My grandfather was a member of the fire department for many years before he passed away.

I have several uncles as well that are members of their fire departments in their perspective areas.

So it does run in the family, and yeah, I mean it's, it was definitely something that changed my life.

I really am very glad I took the, or I joined, and I wouldn't change it for anything, so.

- And obviously, since it runs in the family, but fire departments are always such a huge part of the community, what kind of things does the fire department do that aren't fighting fires?

- So, I mean, the fire department does a whole wide array of things.

I mean anything from fundraising to, we conduct monthly meetings where we do all of our normal business, which is just our day-to-day operations, bills getting paid, things like that.

We have monthly training events.

We have community days a lotta times that sponsor fire safety awareness.

Every year, we go into the different schools.

At least Lowville, we get to go.

One of our bigger events is the fifth graders all meet from Lewis County, all meet at the fairgrounds in Lowville, and we put on a fire safety station for all the fifth graders in Lewis County.

We also have a group of us that usually goes over to the elementary school during fire prevention week and do some activities with some of the younger students as well, so.

- That's amazing.

And it's not just engaging with the kids in the community and not just fighting fires, but last summer, Lowville got hammered pretty hard with some really severe flooding.

What did the fire department do to help out with that?

- Yeah, so I mean, flooding is definitely what we faced.

Last summer was a unique situation to say nonetheless.

In those situations, we can do anything from traffic control to, we were pumping basements out with our portable pumps, getting water out of the basements, trying to keep, protect people's basements and properties as much as possible.

We actually, also, we had some other weather incidents at those events like trees down and wires down.

So that, again, takes time to manage that and make sure the right agencies are notified.

The majority of our time though, was spent pumping basements.

We went house to house, street by street in the village of Lowville, and basically, whatever they needed, we tried to make sure we could get for them, so.

- And you were boots on the ground making sure the community could recover.

That's just amazing.

So, insofar as other things that you do in the community, do you volunteer anywhere else besides the fire department?

- So the fire department takes up the majority of my time.

That being pretty much a, I don't say it's a full-time job, but it's a full-time job.

It really is.

It's my home away from home.

I mean, I have my full-time job that I do as a career, and then I have the fire department stuff that keeps me busy on the side.

So no, I don't actually get out much and volunteer other places.

But the time I spend at the fire department is, like I said, I wouldn't trade it for anything, so.

- Oh, that's phenomenal.

So, how did you become a firefighter?

What kind of training do you have to go through?

- Yep, so everyone, and actually, I forgot to mention as well, I'm also a state fire instructor for New York State.

So I actually teach a lot of the new firefighters in Lewis County.

There's a group of five of us right now that are teaching those courses.

But, so if you join a fire department, your first step is what's called the basic exterior class.

It works out to be 79 hours of training, both in classroom and hands-on training.

So you're getting both aspects of it.

Two nights a week with a few Saturdays thrown in there.

It usually takes about three months to get that course complete, - so.

- Now sometimes you might need to have a certain physical ability.

Are there any requirements that are necessary in order to become a fireman that way?

- So all fire departments, at least in Lewis County, you do go through a pre-check physical that's basically sponsored by the county to make sure that you do meet certain requirements.

That may change in the future as different regulations come down.

It may become more strict.

But for right now, I mean, is there any requirements that you have to meet?

Not necessarily.

Most people will get by the physical, and if they do have some ailments or something that's gonna hinder them, it's just noted on their log, and it's taken into account.

There's still things that they can do.

So we put 'em to work.

- There you go.

So despite all the paperwork and the fundraising and the bills that you have to pay, well, there's gotta be things that you enjoy about being a volunteer firefighter.

- Yeah, so I mean, the biggest reward I think is when you see the community.

For good reason, the fire departments all have really good relationships with their communities, I feel, at least in our area.

Wherever you go, we're very much appreciated.

The community's always willing to thank, step up and thank you.

They're always willing to support us.

In our fundraisers, I mean, that shows as well.

I mean, we'll have a chicken barbecue, and be sold out in a half hour because it's just, the community's there to support us, and they know it.

- That's excellent.

- I mean, we also have, we have a very high social media presence with our Facebook group.

And we get very good comments and relationships on there that make us feel like we're at least doing something right.

- Well, you're definitely doing something right.

And so in all of this work that you're doing, what does that mean to you personally?

How has it made your life better?

- So it's really rewarding.

It really is.

I feel I've grown as a leader.

I mean, I worked my way up through the department.

I was a firefighter for many years and then I went to the role of assistant chief, worked my way right up through to chief.

And like I said, I've been for the last six years the chief of the department.

Through that, I've built a lot of relationships with the neighboring chiefs, with the emergency management department.

I also, for my job, my job job, I work at Public Health in Lewis County.

So I have those contacts as well from the county aspects.

So it gets me, gets me those contacts that really, just gets me out there, and it's one of those things that if you choose to do it, I think you'll be very happy with that choice in the end.

You're gonna have some scenes that really test your ability to handle certain situations, but then you're gonna have other scenes that you're just like, "This is why I'm here."

- And now that's perfect 'cause you're gonna lead me right into my next question, because you're right, it isn't always gonna be easy in any volunteer position.

There are just times when you just feel like giving up.

What's a memory that you draw on that inspires you and it helps you keep going?

- That's a tough one.

Memories.

So, I mean, yeah, you have your good incidents.

You have your bad incidents.

Honestly, probably the best thing, it's the camaraderie with each other.

It's your brotherhood, your sisterhood, that really, really builds on that.

I mean, you become part of a bigger family, and it really does, it just encourages you along the way to be a better person.

And I think that, like I said, if you join a fire department, you're gonna become a better person just by being part of it as long as you do the work.

Put in the time, be committed a little bit.

There are others who are committed more than others, and that's not a bad thing or a good thing either way.

But if you do join, just know there are expectations.

There's a lotta training involved, a lotta coursework involved.

And unfortunately, right now, it's for free, so.

- Right.

So if somebody is interested in wanting to sign up to be a firefighter, where do they go to find out more information?

- Yeah, so your local fire departments should all have some sort of contact information out there, whether it's phone numbers, email addresses, Facebook.

Most fire departments are out there in the social media world.

I really think it's a tool to be used, and I think fire departments have dug into that a little bit and started to use it.

So that's a great way to reach out.

If, for some reason, you are struggling, reach out to the local county emergency management office.

They coordinate all the fire departments as well.

So they would have any contact information like that right on file, and those are usually accessible right on county websites and things like that, so.

- Fantastic.

Well, I'm just gonna wrap this interview up with one last question.

Say you're out walking down the street and you see somebody that just wants to help, and they look lost, and they wanna help.

What do you say to them to inspire them to go out and volunteer?

- The best thing I can say is to do something.

There's lots of opportunities out there.

It doesn't have to be in emergency services.

There are community boards.

There's community groups that are doing things all the time.

If you wanna join emergency services, fire service, EMS, whatever, there's lots of need all over the place.

I don't think you'll find any fire department or EMS agency at this point that will turn you away.

There's always something that can be done.

So I would encourage people that if you do have a small inkling, if you wanna help in any way, shape or form, reach out to your fire departments, reach out to your EMS agencies, see what you can do, see what they're looking for.

There's always something to do.

Like I said, we have some people that join the department not to fight fires.

They don't want anything to do with it.

They take the exterior class, and that's where they stay, but they still, they're needed and their help.

They help at fundraisers, they help at our functions, they help with those things.

We need people to keep the fire hall clean and looking nice and things like that.

So there's lots of jobs out there, and it really is rewarding when you finalize and join something.

- Well, that's absolutely fantastic to know.

Thank you so much for joining us, Joe.

We really appreciate you being here, and thank you so much for your service.

- Thank you.

(upbeat music) - We have Kathy Hannon with us today, and you are a local volunteer, and you've left the area and recently come back.

And so welcome home.

- Thank you.

- We appreciate that.

We understand that you've been away from the North Country for about 40 years, and you've just decided to move back home.

What brought you back home?

- My family.

I have family who have lived here for, before 40 years, probably since like the '70s.

And now we have a daughter who is married and lives in Syracuse with grandchildren.

We lived in Saranac Lake.

It was a lot of time on the road, and we decided it was a good place to come back to.

We had a piece of property my father and mother were generous to give us, and we were able to build a house, and so we're back, and it's good.

- Welcome back.

- Thank you.

- We're grateful to have you, especially because you have such a wonderful roster of volunteer service.

Now, was all that time on the road traveling?

Is that a place where you found inspiration to start giving back?

Where did you get your drive to volunteer?

- My parents and my grandparents were really inspiration for me to give back, and my whole family, my brothers, my sister and their siblings, not their siblings, their spouses, all are big volunteers in a lot of different areas.

So I think it was just something we grew up with.

I watched my grandparents volunteer.

I watched my parents volunteer, and I actually didn't even realize how much they were volunteering till I was asked to do this and then thought about all the things that they did, Girl Scouts and school board, and things I didn't really recognize as volunteering till I was an adult.

- Yeah, so it's all in the family then?

- Yeah.

- How wonderful.

That's very exciting.

And so looking here at what you've been doing here in the North Country, the Victims Assistance Center, now, what do you do for volunteering there?

Can you tell us a little bit about it?

- Sure.

I am actually right now at the Children's Advocacy Center, which is downstairs from the Victims Assistance Center.

And I answer the phone.

If there's children there in the waiting room waiting for their parents, I just interact with them.

I'm a retired teacher, so it was a great opportunity to be able to be with kids without having to be responsible for them all day long.

And whatever actually is needed, I just kind of am there to do what they need me to do, so.

- Excellent, now, so how did you find out about the Victims Assistance Center?

What drew you to that work?

- Well, the first year that we moved here, when we moved back, I was working with my brother and sister-in-law who were at the market, the Wednesday market, and they have a stand over there, and I would always see the building and I was just curious about it.

And so then I just did a little bit of research and found out that they use volunteers.

And so I took the training and volunteered for a short time and then COVID happened, and so then it kind of stopped.

And then when I came back, I was downstairs at the Children's Assistance or Advocacy Center.

- Excellent.

Very good.

And speaking of children, the Adams Community Playground Project, that sounds really fun.

Tell us about that.

- That was a big project.

It was five years long, and it just came to fruition this summer.

We opened the playground in end of June, and it was just a grassroots project with a lot of help from the community.

So it really was a great way to sort of jump in and meet new people and actually see a project that was nothing from a bare playground that had been abandoned by the school, and not abandoned necessarily, but had been taken over by apartments and was just grass and rocks, and then it became this beautiful playground that the community is able to use.

And I think during COVID, a lot of people learned to do playground shopping and go around to all the community playgrounds.

So now we have one in Adams that is really beautifully made and big as a.

- Now, how excellent, then now you talk about a project from beginning to end.

- Right.

- And in all of the volunteering that you do, is that one of the things that inspires you to volunteer, seeing the process, seeing the growth?

What inspires you to volunteer?

- The people, I think, really.

It's just being around the people.

And I think that's, one thing that after retiring from teaching, I missed being around people, and I missed kids.

And even though I did do some subbing and tutoring, being around students and being around kids without having to be doing things that they don't necessarily love doing, like learning, they don't always love learning, it's been fun to have opportunities to do that.

And just being around people who I've never met.

We also, being new in the areas after being away for so long, it was a little bit of a challenge to sort of figure out how to meet people again.

- And so finding that new community through volunteering - Right.

- and helping out others while making new friends, I mean, that's gotta be the best bet that you can get.

- Yes, definitely.

- That's excellent.

And we're seeing also here that you are a volunteer and a member of the New Life Church.

- [Kathleen] Yes.

- So what does your volunteer work involve with that?

- I'm a greeter, which is like a great way to meet people.

All you have to do is smile and be welcoming, and it's really easy to do there.

The people are so friendly, and it was one of the places when we first moved back here that I could go to and felt that welcoming atmosphere.

And so the more I was there, the more I felt like I wanted to be a part of it rather than just a participant.

- Now, obviously, because your love of children and education and all of the things that have you've experienced in your life, was there a moment that you experienced where it crystallized in your mind that I wanna give back, I wanna help?

- I don't know if there was a moment, but I guess when I was living in Watertown, like in the '70s, I volunteered here at the auction I think twice.

And then I volunteered over at JRC in the pre-K, and that was what helped me to decide I wanted to be a special ed teacher.

And I think it was just the opportunity to be able to try things out without a huge commitment.

It wasn't like I was choosing it as a career.

It gave me opportunities to try different things that I would've never been able to just try without having a job or committing to something like that.

You know, do something.

- Like having those experiences and learning.

- Yes.

- Getting your toes in the water, so to speak.

- Right.

- And so that's remarkable.

And I would hope that people who wanted to volunteer understood that you don't have to commit a lifelong endeavor to it.

People certainly do, but like you say, you can just, a little bit at a time, whatever you're able to give.

And that still makes a profound difference.

That's very, very true.

Now, insofar as everything that you've gone through, obviously you're still giving back to the community.

Well, sometimes that can really tough.

It can be really overwhelming.

Is there a special kind of memory or a motto or a mantra that you live by that continues to inspire you when you do feel that, well, I don't really wanna do this today?

- I don't know if I would say.

I guess as I've matured, I don't wanna say aged, but I've learned that doing more doesn't mean necessarily doing better.

And that's not something that I've ever say to myself.

It's just something I've just, you know, learned.

And so I've tried to, I'm a person who tends to want to do a lot of things, and I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off, and then I realize I can't do everything.

So I've tried to pull back and dedicate myself more to just a couple things at a time, and I think that has been really helpful for me.

- Yeah.

- Because then I can know that I have a commitment on a Wednesday or a whatever day it is, and I don't have to feel like I'm overwhelmed with a lot of different things going on.

- Right, so you choose what makes you happy, I'm sure, - Right.

- that all of these things that you've chosen to do.

How does that enrich you and fulfill you personally?

- I think in all of the different experiences, especially I could say like for hospice and at the Children's Advocacy Center, I feel like I get so much more back than I do, than I give.

And I think it's just the opportunity to meet people in different walks of life who I would normally never have an opportunity to meet or know or just interact with, and it's really just sort of amazing and humbling to meet people and to realize like, that everybody's just living their life at the best they can.

And walking down the hall in hospice, the first few times I was there and realizing this isn't a hospital.

These people are not here because they're just getting, you know, a treatment, and they're getting better and they're gonna go home, and it was eye-opening to me to think about that and to just meet the people and talk to them and talk to the families.

And when I retired, I would thought, oh, I would like to go back and be a nurse and do hospice work 'cause I was always interested in it, but the reality of actually going back to school was really not, I was not realistic, and so.

- But volunteering filled that need, - Yes.

- that interest and that way that you wanted to help.

- Yes.

- Volunteering gave you that outlet.

- Yes.

- And again, hospice, a wonderful, wonderful organization here locally.

Volunteering for hospice, what do you do to volunteer there?

- I fold laundry.

I visit with patients.

For a while, they were short on some cooking stuff, so I got to be a short order cook a few times.

That was great fun.

I love that.

I really always thought I would like to be a short order cook if I ever was going to be a cook of any kind.

And it was really fun, and I got to still visit with people.

And I think the thing I could say about hospice as far as volunteering, and I think probably anything, any volunteer job, is that people are like, "Oh, I could never do that.

It's so intimidating," but I could go up there and fold laundry if that's what they needed to do.

I don't really have to feel like I have to have a lot of interaction with people.

You just do what is needed, and it doesn't have to be something that you have in your mind.

A lot of times, there's things that you can do that you have no idea that there were even a possibility.

I think that's the big thing about volunteering.

It can be intimidating to think about all the different things that you might have to do, but I think most places are so excited to get a volunteer that they're gonna have you do what you want to do, not what they might need to do.

- Well, that is very true.

There has been a difficult time getting people to come and volunteer in communities.

And I think possibly it's because people just don't know what the opportunities are.

- Right.

- So where can our viewers find out more information about how to volunteer for the Victims Assistance Center or for the New Life Church or for hospice?

- I think just probably going online is probably the easiest way.

If you look up volunteers, if you go on any of their websites, you can probably find a link for volunteers, or at New Life, you could find a link for just how to get involved.

Excuse me.

- Mm-hm.

- But I think there's just so many opportunities for volunteering anywhere.

Like the internet is incredible in that way.

If you just Google volunteers, local volunteer opportunities, there are so many.

- Excellent.

Well, that's wonderful.

And we are so grateful for your service, and we are so glad that you are home and helping out here in Northern New York.

Thank you so much, Kathy, for being with us, and we wish you success in all your future endeavors.

- Thank you.

(upbeat music) It's a reminder that bears repeating.

No one achieves anything alone.

The world needs help, and even the smallest amount of help can change the course of a life.

We hope that you're inspired to go out into our world and become the helper that we're all looking for.

Thanks for watching.

(upbeat music) (gentle music)